I promise not to do this very often - this is my sermon from yesterday which was All Saints Day. All Saints Day happens to be my favorite Sunday of the year - filled with mystery and holiness and honest human emotion. So - here are my thoughts from yesterday - based on Matthew 5:1-12.
For as long as I can
remember I have been confused by the word, “Blessing.” We use it in so many different ways in
our culture – and yet I’m not sure we completely ‘get it’.
When someone sneezes, we
say, “God Bless You!” In other
words, I hope you get better soon – and then you will be blessed. When we talk about someone who is going
through a really hard time, we often turn to one another and say “I had better
count my blessings.”
When my dear and faithful
friends moved into their new home, which is an extraordinary and enormous home
– they looked at one another and said, “We are so blessed.”
And every year when my
husband brings home a bonus right after I have spent too much money on
Christmas presents – we say to one another, “what a blessing!”
It seems to me that when we
say we are blessed – we are not only making a statement about blessings – what
kinds of gifts God gives. But we
are also making a statement about the flip side of blessings.
So when someone is sick and
we say “God bless you” – we understand that the blessing is in the getting
better. So does that mean that
when someone is sick – God’s abundant blessings are temporarily removed from
their lives?
And when we say, in response
to someone else’s tragedy – “I need to count my blessings” – are we saying that
people who suffer in tragic circumstances are not blessed?
And when we look around at
all of our earthly possessions and give thanks for them and call them
‘blessings of this life’ – are we making a statement about people – like those
in the Horn Of Africa experiencing six years without rain – or like those in Guatemala
who are suffering the effects of flood waters in an already impoverished
area……if all that we HAVE – our houses and cars, our bonus checks and our
diamond rings – if those are blessings from God – then does that mean that God
is not blessing 90% of the world’s population?
You will be happy to know
that people were confused about this very thing way back in Jesus’ day. In fact, there are ancient Greek
writings where people call out blessing upon blessing – riches, fame and power –
and call those without these “blessings” – those that are cursed.
Ancient Greek Philosophers,
however – wrote about the Gods as being the only ones who were blessed. And their reasoning behind this idea
was that the Gods were the only ones who were free from the constraints of this
earthly life. Free from anything
on earth having power or control over them….and while they had the part about
the Gods wrong – it turns out that they were onto something else.
Jesus had his very own ideas
about blessings. In fact, Jesus
turns upside down the whole idea that God’s blessings are revealed to us in
wealth and health.
We have come to know these
words as the “Beatitudes” – and while many of us could probably recite them and
some of us have cross stitch samplers of these words hanging on our walls at
home – I’m pretty sure that over the years we have misunderstood their
meaning. Their meaning is radical
and world-turning. With these
words, Jesus actually intends to turn
the world upside-down and to redefine for us what it means to be blessed.
Jesus has just been baptized
and spent some time in the wilderness.
Then he called his disciples and went to the top of a hill – because
that’s where all great revelations from God in the Bible come – at the top of hills
- where the very first words that came out of his mouth were words that define
for us exactly what it means to be blessed. An interesting and very cool aside – is that the last word
in the Old Testament is the Hebrew word “Cursed.” And the very first words that Jesus speaks to a crowd; The
very first revelation of God through Jesus – is a word of Blessing. And with these words of Blessin – Jesus
ushers in a new day in God’s relationship with all of us.
But I think these Blessings
are more than just blessings – I think they are also a mandate from Jesus. I think he is saying – “Look – this is
what my Kingdom looks like. If you
want to join me in this earth-turning, world-shaking revolution of Love – you
need to understand that it looks a little different that what you’re used to!”
And so he begins…..
Blessed are the poor in
Spirit…..they are filled with humility and wonder. They cling to God because they understand that they won’t
make it through the day without God.
They are empty so God can fill them up. They are poor so that God’s riches – like love, and grace
and peace – can define who they are.
Blessed are those who mourn……those
whose hearts are open enough to feel grief – mourning the loss of
relationships, the state of the world, the failures and losses we experience
along the way, and the loss of our connection with God through sin.
Blessed are the meek – those who
don’t seek power by dominating or forcefulness, but by seeking true power which
only finally revealed to us in the power of the humility of the cross.
Blessed are those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness – who yearn for what is right and holy and good from
the deepest part of their souls.
Blessed are the merciful who give
people the benefit of the doubt and who have their eye out for the true victims
of this world.
Blessed are the pure in heart - not
the corrupted.
Blessed are the peacemakers - not the
instigators.
Blessed are the persecuted not the
powerful
And to drive it all home – in case
you thought following Jesus would be easy – Blessed are you when people hate
you because of me. When you seek
justice. When you stand up for
everything that is of God without backing down. When you go to the extreme to live your life not for
yourself – but when you empty yourself of everything that you know and you fill
yourself with God. Then you are
blessed.
What is really cool about all of
these blessings – all of these things that Jesus spoke – is that he said them,
and then he walked right down that hill into the world where went on to live
each and every one of them.
- He emptied himself so that God’s will would be done in his life.
- He humbled himself so that we would see God.
- He hungered for righteousness and justice by lifting up every person who was treated unfairly
- He had the purest heart ever to beat
- He stood for peace by turning the other cheek
- He was persecuted and killed because he wouldn’t back down. Not even when the pressure got to be too much – and in his final act of dying and rising – he blessed us once and for all time.
I also think that we are called, as
Children of God – to live out these blessings in our lives to the best of our
ability. To align ourselves with
God so that we are empty enough for God to shine through us. To understand on a deep level that the
only blessing we truly have in this life is the one that frees us from the
bonds of this earth. That is what
we celebrate on All Saints Day.
That God calls each and every one of us saint – not because of anything
we have done – but because of the blessing that we have through Jesus Christ…..who
emptied himself so that we could live.
So – a question for you. On All Saint’s Day – 50, or maybe 100
years from now. What will people
remember about you? Will it be
that you were wealthy and healthy and powerful? Or will it be that you lived your life aligned with a
different kind of Blessing? The
kind of Blessing that can only come from God’s love through Jesus Christ? The kind of Blessing that calls us to
empty ourselves – so God’s light can shine through us.
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